Page 92 of New Blood

Danielle found the beginning of the letter and read it, taking in every word, even hearing her mother’s voice as the words echoed in her head. She could hear her mother’s pain and love, both of them equally strong. And she felt her mother’s heart as she asked William to take care of her.

Danielle dropped the letter onto her lap, tears welling up in her eyes.

“What?” Priscilla asked and reached for the letter, but Flora was faster.

She didn’t stop Flora from reading the letter. Instead, she turned to Priscilla.

“William is my father.”

At first, there were only two low gasps, one from Priscilla, the other from Flora.

“Oh my God,” Priscilla exclaimed.

“And Cameron knew?” Flora said from next to her. It was more a statement than a question.

Yes, Cameron knew. When he had stumbled upon the truth, Danielle had no idea of knowing. But it would explain the hostility he’d shown her during the past few months before his death. Even more so, once she’d moved into the main house after the explosion in the cottage.

At that memory, something clicked in her mind. The key!

“Oh my God! Where did it go?” She shifted and searched the floor beside her with her hands, finding what she was looking for. She took it and stared at it.

“That’s the key.”

“What key?” Priscilla asked.

“The missing key of the fireplace in the cottage.” She turned to Flora.

Flora stared at her in shock. “Cameron?” She put her hand to her mouth as if to stop herself from crying out. “Oh my God. It was him! He caused the explosion in your cottage!” Flora put her hand on her arm, squeezing it. “I’m so sorry for what he did to you. He tried to kill you because he knew that you were his half sister. Oh my God, his greed clearly knew no bounds.”

Danielle let the words sink in. Cameron wasn’t the kind of guy who gave up easily. If he’d tried to kill her once, he wouldn’t simply have given up after the first attempt wasn’t successful. He would have tried again. And again, he would have made it look like an accident so his father wouldn’t suspect anything.

She gasped as the dots connected in her mind.

“Priscilla! Where did you put the drawing of the engine?”

Priscilla opened a box and rummaged through it.

“What drawing?” Flora asked.

“This one,” Priscilla said and triumphantly pulled it from the box.

Danielle grabbed it and unfolded it again. She perused it in detail until she was sure she knew what she was looking at. Then she looked up, meeting Flora’s and Priscilla’s curious gazes.

“It’s a printout of the braking system in a Toyota Corolla.”

The Toyota Corolla she’d crashed into the pond this morning.

Danielle took the letter out of Flora’s hands. She had to tell Jude. It would make all the difference. She hurried past Flora and Priscilla.

“Where are you going?” Flora called after her, following her.

But she had no time to waste. Without knocking, she entered Jude’s office. To her shock, the room was empty. One glance out through the window, and she saw that the helicopter that had landed on the lawn was starting up its rotor again. Jude was walking toward it, flanked by the two men who’d arrived earlier.

How could they do that? How could they make him leave without as much as a good-bye?

And how had she not seen them leave? They had to have used the front door in order to avoid passing by the storage room. Whirling around on her heel, she almost crashed into Flora. Without slowing down, she raced past her. She barreled down the corridor to the mudroom and through the back door. Outside, she screamed Jude’s name.

“Jude! No!”